6 Years of Water Left (Phoenix, Tucson: purchase, university, law)

[Raven_on_a_Coyote]

Lake Mead is drying up, and that effects Arizona in a big way.

Arizona Could Be Out of Water in Six Years | Smart News | Smithsonian

This many people in a desert does not make sense to me...

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by Raven_on_a_Coyote

Lake Mead is drying up, and that effects Arizona in a big way.

Arizona Could Be Out of Water in Six Years | Smart News | Smithsonian

This many people in a desert does not make sense to me...

Arizona has the legal right to water which it only uses 2/3 of. No running out of water, it's more about where does the water come from should Lake Mead continue to fall. On top of that $$. The current plan is for municipalities to purchase rights from miners and agriculture (primary water users).

Tucson specifically will struggle in that scenario because it has no usable surface water. CAP and the AZ GMA were aimed at Tucson in the first place. But Phoenix and other northern areas will be fine. Tucson also has a very fragile economy.

And despite its little brotherly disdain for Phoenix, Phoenix shares an inordinate amount of water rights with other cities like a good capital should.

But the article is not "smart news" because it didn't bother to actually analyze how water management works in AZ. Moreover, the article claims 1/4 of AZ water comes from CAP, yet it claims AZ will run out of water. What about that 3/4 it didn't bother to discuss?

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Raven_on_a_Coyote

Lake Mead is drying up, and that effects Arizona in a big way.

Arizona Could Be Out of Water in Six Years | Smart News | Smithsonian

This many people in a desert does not make sense to me...

Haven't we heard this before:

Chicken Little likes to walk in the woods. She likes to look at the trees. She likes to smell the flowers. She likes to listen to the birds singing.



One day while she is walking an acorn falls from a tree, and hits the top of her little head.
- My, oh, my, the sky is falling. I must run and tell the lion about it, - says Chicken Little and begins to run.



She runs and runs. By and by she meets the hen.
- Where are you going? - asks the hen.



- Oh, Henny Penny, the sky is falling and I am going to the lion to tell him about it.



- How do you know it? - asks Henny Penny.



- It hit me on the head, so I know it must be so, - says Chicken Little.


- Let me go with you! - says Henny Penny. - Run, run.




OP - if this is such a big CRISIS, then why did you add to the issue by moving here???



I hear more panic from people on City-Data than I hear when I attend water management board meetings and lectures from hydrologists at the University of Arizona.

[Arktikos]

Water level of lake Mead continues to drop, though not yet below 1000 ft., which is also problematic for power generation.

Lake Mead Drops But Hoover Dam Powers On - Circle of Blue

[Raven_on_a_Coyote]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

Haven't we heard this before:

OP - if this is such a big CRISIS, then why did you add to the issue by moving here???

I hear more panic from people on City-Data than I hear when I attend water management board meetings and lectures from hydrologists at the University of Arizona.

I am not panicking. Sheesh.

And I moved here because I had to. And I am leaving because I can.

But to never panic is just as silly as to always panic. I am just being aware.

[Raven_on_a_Coyote]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

Arizona has the legal right to water which it only uses 2/3 of. No running out of water, it's more about where does the water come from should Lake Mead continue to fall. On top of that $$. The current plan is for municipalities to purchase rights from miners and agriculture (primary water users).

Tucson specifically will struggle in that scenario because it has no usable surface water. CAP and the AZ GMA were aimed at Tucson in the first place. But Phoenix and other northern areas will be fine. Tucson also has a very fragile economy.

And despite its little brotherly disdain for Phoenix, Phoenix shares an inordinate amount of water rights with other cities like a good capital should.

But the article is not "smart news" because it didn't bother to actually analyze how water management works in AZ. Moreover, the article claims 1/4 of AZ water comes from CAP, yet it claims AZ will run out of water. What about that 3/4 it didn't bother to discuss?

But with decisions like this:
What drought? Nestle plans $35 million plant to bottle water in Phoenix

And the drought, and more population, and climate change, all I see is risk, not a certainty, but a risk or water issues.

Arizona gets 40% of its water from CAP so that it will not break groundwater rules.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.10/ari...water-supplies

Hence the legal complications.

And water rights are not supreme rights, as they are learning in California.

and
Does Arizona have enough water for the drought? | AZ Big Media

According to ADWR, there is the possibility of a shortage declaration for the Colorado River projected for 2018, maybe even as early as 2017. This would mean an elimination of CAP water supplies to the Arizona Water Banking Authority with a portion of the CAP water supply being used for groundwater replenishment, ultimately effecting central Arizona agriculture users. Still, despite the potential for adversity, and rising CAP rates, Arizona is prepared.


But the fact is that this will effect farmers first. And how will that then effect the economy?

40% comes from surface water, which the local drought is effecting.


Just saying, I see a lot of pressure.

[Bummer]

Just curious, Raven . . .

No disrespect intended, however, why so many Negative, Doomsday Posts?

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by Raven_on_a_Coyote

But with decisions like this:
What drought? Nestle plans $35 million plant to bottle water in Phoenix

And the drought, and more population, and climate change, all I see is risk, not a certainty, but a risk or water issues.

Arizona gets 40% of its water from CAP so that it will not break groundwater rules.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/48.10/ari...water-supplies

Hence the legal complications.

And water rights are not supreme rights, as they are learning in California.

and
Does Arizona have enough water for the drought? | AZ Big Media

According to ADWR, there is the possibility of a shortage declaration for the Colorado River projected for 2018, maybe even as early as 2017. This would mean an elimination of CAP water supplies to the Arizona Water Banking Authority with a portion of the CAP water supply being used for groundwater replenishment, ultimately effecting central Arizona agriculture users. Still, despite the potential for adversity, and rising CAP rates, Arizona is prepared.


But the fact is that this will effect farmers first. And how will that then effect the economy?

40% comes from surface water, which the local drought is effecting.


Just saying, I see a lot of pressure.

Pressure I can see, rights are supreme cost, is the issue as California is actually learning.

As to affecting farmers. Issue no.1 is water abandonment laws in AZ. Farmers literally have to use or lose water rights. So they cannot drip irrigate fields without losing rights to unused water which under law they lose rights to because they are being efficient.

In order to move them to drip we have to literally purchase rights or provide incentives to drip and not flood.

[Raven_on_a_Coyote]

More writing on the subject

The causes of Lake Mead's expanding bathtub ring -

[Raven_on_a_Coyote]

Originally Posted by Bummer

Just curious, Raven . . .

No disrespect intended, however, why so many Negative, Doomsday Posts?

Not negative or positive, just a realist.